10/13 Season Three, Episode 14: Playing for Keeps-Scarecrow and Mrs King

So Lee sees Donna approaching and quickly has to hang up on Amanda – who’s just copped a nasty earful from Francine..

Donna: Excuse me, I just got word that Mr Tomerson has made contact with his lawyer who has flown in to speak with you.Francine: He’s here.Donna: Mr Jeffries wants to speak with the two of you out by the Grounds-keepers barn.Lee: Now what sense does that make? That’s half-way back to the main highway.[They must be very extensive grounds!
Do you think they are wondering if it’s a trap?]Donna: Well, he says it’s for security but you’d know more about that than I would…[oh nice! play dumb hey Donna.. Donna who flashed her gun.. Donna the ‘former military flyer, weapons expert and black belt’?? This Donna doesn’t know about security? Are Lee and Francine buying this?!]…Tomerson wants a complete report on the threat to his daughter but he doesn’t want Tina to see you with his lawyer…
…Don’t worry, I’ll keep my eye on Tina.Francine and Lee leave Donna to go meet with the lawyer.. and Donna gives them an evil look as they walk off. Muahahahaaha!
LOL – it’s a very looooong evil look!
Muuuuahahahahahaahhahah!
Donna is turning out to be quite the big bad evil errr baddie!
What was it Tina said about the agency sending a female agent? -Francine was underestimated..
Seems she wasn’t the only female underestimated – Donna too!! [interesting..it worked very well for both these women that they be underestimated]
Amanda knows a thing or two about that! I wonder what she would have made of Donna…
Next thing, we see the barn, and dynamite on a table..
Lee and Francine pull up at the barn.
As Lee calls out we see Scorpion Dude moving into position in the barn with his rifle.
Lee and Francine tentatively approach..
why does Lee get a gun and Francine doesn’t?!
Lee: I don’t like coming all the way out here. It just doesn’t feel right…I don’t like the look of this. Come on.
Anyone home? Hello, Mr Jeffries? Anyone here?
Lee and Francine are exposed- Scorpion Dude lines up his shot.
And is interrupted by Tina and Tony arriving.. Gee I thought Donna was keeping an eye on her.. ahem.. Scorpion dude told Donna to bring the agents to the barn.. but I don’t remember anything about Tina and Tony.. Lee: What the hell are you two doing here.Tina: We got a call from Donna. She said to come out here and meet you, and—[Seems Donna is following her own play book] (Donna flashes some light at scorpion dude and he shoots)
– lol right when he can’t aim at anything, that’s when he shoots?! tee hee.. Dumb baddie!
Hey everyone! I’m here with a gun! rofl!
Tina and Tony scramble out of the car, and Lee and Francine take cover too.More mirror shining in the baddies’ eyesand thus more lousy shooting.. lolLee: Get down everybody! Get down! Look Francine, get ‘em outta here. And stay down!
Francine leads Tina and Tony back to the corvette to take cover… while Lee stays by the red convertible..
The mirror in scorpion dude’s face continues.. so does the lousy shooting.. Then, Lee manages to shoot back,
one way or another scorpion dude ends up backing up and falling onto the table with the dynamite.. whatev..
We see a huge explosion.. Scorpion Dude is no more!
And when I say huge explosion.. I mean HUGE Explosion!!!! Why??? Well.. as Lee dives from the bomb blast…
Lee morphs back into Polyester Lee!!!!!!
That’s quite a blast!!
For a moment there it blew Lee back in time!

[I guess someone forgot to tell second unit Lee had changed clothes by now.. maybe this is due to script changes.. but anyway.. hilarious!]

Whooo seems Francine, Tony and Tina have maintained their current wardrobe and have been shielded from the full blast
Francine heads over to Lee to check if he’s okay.
Leee!! LEEE!!!! Come back to the 80’s!! Francine: Lee! Lee! You okay?Lee: Yeah.Phew!!! Lee’s back in the present time.. and his brown suit.. and.. he’s okay!
Boooo.. it’s just not the same when it’s not Amanda running toward Lee to check if he’s okay!!!
We get Lee and Francine sort of sharing confused looks at this turn of events..
Hmm it’s almost like us, the audience, experience the same thing Lee is experiencing throughout this episode – we notice how very different things are without Amanda.. It’s just not the same.

Moving on back to the tennis ranch and we see some tennis archival footage – that’s Martina Navratilova!! I’d know her anywhere! in the foreground not sure who she’s playing..Anyway, back to the hotel room – Billy and Lee are talking, and lots of agents are moving around..Hey, Lee’s changed outfit yet again.. Like the jacket.. but gotta say.. those pants? Meh.. maybe it’s looking really dated.. but to me it makes Lee look ummm.. more mature and fuddy duddy..
Is it just me?!
I’ll focus on the jacket! At least I don’t need sunglasses to look at this one.Francine gets off the phone..Francine: Well, we can all rest easy. I just got confirmation that Donna is on the flight from Dulles to Honolulu. She’ll be taken into custody the minute they arrive.Billy: The $100,000 that was credited to Donna’s account has been traced back to the communists who threatened Tomerson.Francine: Well Lee, this is no time to look like someone just stole your bicycle… [wha?!] ….Steckler is dead, Donna’s going to be picked up in a couple of hours, and Tina’s back in the tournament.[lol at the brooch Francine is wearing.. she does think she is destined to become royalty.. and the earrings? two disguised sticks of C4 explosives! ]Lee: I don’t like it – it’s all too convenient…[Yeah!! and this time.. it might actually mean something that it’s too convenient!] …Look I spent half the night talking to anyone anywhere who had ever dealt with Steckler – met him, investigated one of his hits—[I guess this is day two huh.. the timing is a bit confusing]Billy: Any help?Lee: But one thing is certain – Steckler was a consummate pro. He always did his job and always got big headlines. Headlines seemed to be very important to him.Francine: You’re right…
[wow.. now such a direct admission Lee is right? would that be something Amanda would say? I don’t think of Francine telling Lee directly he’s right- there’s too much competition between them.. she might think he’s right but she would say it.. would she?]…I remember in Geneva he assassinated an ambassador that was being honoured at a public concert.[Dang.. the ambassadors are having a hard time of it this episode! Reminds me of Von Snob trying to kill the American Ambassador in Munich! Funny it doesn’t remind Lee.. he was there- Lint?! err.. oh yeah.. Lee is not real. He is a character.. Lee was not really there – whoooo Lindt!]
Billy: Well, when he was in Hong Kong he used a bomb on a British Emissary in the middle of a press conference. So what’s the point? He’s dead.Lee: Another thing, the Police recovered his rifle at the barn. Now a pro like Steckler would either use the rifle or the bomb, but not both.[ummm.. to me that’s a stretch!!! there were little missiles on that table earlier when Steckler was working there.. I don’t buy this logic. but.. I’m sure Lee’ s right and it’s not over.. the ep has another 10 minutes.. that’s 9 minutes of action finale and a one minute tag lol.. ]Billy: So if Steckler was set up, this thing’s not over.Francine: All-right, we still have 20 guards on the tennis courts and have spotters on all the perimeters.Lee: Well then, we’d better make sure everyone stays awake, huh?…(Lee makes for the door)…C’mon, we’d better get back.Lee and Francine leave..I shall stop here for the moment too..I miss Amanda.. seeing Lee call for Francine and go to open the door for her.. is just so sad! I’m a broken record.. it’s true..
but I can’t wait to hear from you!
(That’s about as Dr Seuss as I get..
Oh really? do you want to bet?!)

32 responses to “10/13 Season Three, Episode 14: Playing for Keeps-Scarecrow and Mrs King”

This whole part has me a little bit puzzled. What are we supposed to figure out from the bomb on the table thing? Why does Donna help lure Lee and Francine out there (and Tony and Tina too, apparently) to get them shot, then help them not to get shot? Is there a plot thread somewhere underneath all this archive tennis footage (they must have had some real budget constraints, to use that. It doesn’t even look like it matches).

Oh, and can I just say that I totally cringe when I see Francine “running” to Lee in that action scene. First it’s not really running. Second, her arms appear to be tied to her abdomen. What is up with that? Even though she’s wearing heels, surely she could pump her arms a little bit to go faster. After all, Lee is getting shot at! Geez! Stuff like this irritates me to no end with this show. Yes she is a female agent, but running like this? Ugh. Awful. And yes, I have run in heels before while pumping my arms. It can be done. Sorry for the rant!!!

LOL – were you imbibing when you wrote this post, iwsod? Dr. Seus? hahaha! Love it! Found it too cute 🙂

Lee in a polyester time-warp – puhlease…glad it was just for a second. No wonder Lee is confused about this plot and these baddies. I’m confuzzled too. And you must me a Martina fan! She’s my all-time female favorite tennis player. I can’t tell who she’s playing either. But it is very old footage. Martina sporting a French braid is very old footage. Bet she’s wearing those large clear glasses too.

This post and these comments just made my day. The absence of KJ/Amanda was felt all over the place. What a scramble that had to have taken place to get all of this mish-mash together. I wonder how long her actual absence was that they couldn’t just hold up filming for a while. Everyone (in front of and behind the camera) seems to be off their game. It’s a testament to KJ’s presence on the show. It’s a testament to us fans that we can forgive, laugh hilariously, then forgive and focus on the little (very little) gems that we do get in this episode.

The one thing I can say about Francine’s outfit or whenever she’s in pants is that you get to see just how petite she really is. The biggest thing on her is her hair and sometimes those huge earrings.

Hear hear Valerie – Really great to hear from you!
I was starting to really need a laugh! I love that together we can provide them even when the show doesn’t – or umm sometimes the show accidentally/unintentionally does!
There’s a few more clangers ahead of us yet! 🙂

How often can I find a group of people that can laugh so heartily at their favorite show. You guys are great! Lucky SMK has us, because that is such a ridiculous cutting room floor mess. They must have been pretty tired to put that white suit clip back in there. Ah well.

This thread of comments has me laughing so hard. If nothing else, this ep really highlights how BB and KJ did such amazing work as the emotional centre at the show and how ludicrous the plots were when you don’t have them together to distract you. But OMG, this has to rank as the silliest episode EVER.

The scene where Lee is bombed back into Polyester Lee is one of my clearest memories from watching this episode for the first time back in 1980-whatever.
My younger brother and I were watching the episode together. We always laughed at the cheesy lines and bloodless action scenes, but this was the one that had us falling out of our chairs and onto the floor we were laughing so hard.
Ahhh, memories… 😀
Francine’s gotta be booked for that hideous blue outfit – the style, the colour, the paisley patterned blouse, the big hair, the brooch, the earrings – it all adds up to a compulsory overnight stay in the Fashion Police cells to contemplate her fashion sins. 😎
Donna’s big ol’ shoulder pads in photos 3 and 4 make her look really brawny.
At least Lee has got his fashion act together a bit more – although that striped shirt looks like prison issue (maybe a momento from his last stay in Fashion Prison 😉 ) The trousers I don’t mind so much – kind’ve a throw-back to 1940’s Humphrey Bogart style. I have got the impression as S3 has progressed that Lee is dressing a little more like a “normal person” in his work and casual gear. Perhaps the powers that be were using his wardrobe as a means of outwardly showing his progression towards being a man that Amanda could see as her life partner and father to her sons?

When I can drag my (horrified) glance from 1) Donna’s oh-so-sparkly lipgloss 2) the much-discussed suit and 3) Francine’s crown-like brooch, I find myself thinking that Francine and Lee are being a bit naive (that’s being charitable) meeting up with the lawyer who’s flown in to meet about Tina. Isn’t that just a bit unlikely??Why he wouldn’t have have phoned instead of meeting them in a remote barn. Mr T has hired a bodyguard for his beloved daughter who doesn’t know about security?

Rule #2 of SMK: The highly-trained top agents from the Agency (their best people) will always act as smart or as dumb as the script requires.

This ties directly into Rule #1 of SMK: The highly-trained top agents from the Agency will only ever hit someone in a shoot-out when the script requires it.

I prefered Francine in the outfit she was wearing at the barn. Or the lavendar-coloured training outfit. Let’s just never mention this blue one here again. (Maybe the brooch was a gift from the prince she turned down? XD)

“Lee morphs back into Polyester Lee!!!!!! ““That’s quite a blast!!”
Wah hah hah hah hah hah!!!
Not only that, it somehow deposits a ton of straw on the hood of the Merc — though there was only black smoke billowing around — and a bunch more mud on the tyre treads. :p

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